HS BASEBALL: Pennsbury crosses Delaware River, clips Hopewell

EWING — What a difficult past two days it has been for the Hopewell Valley High baseball team.

After seeing a one-run lead in the ninth inning disappear Friday in a loss at Robbinsville, the Bulldogs went extra innings again yesterday, only to see Pennsbury come up with a run in the top of the eighth inning at The College of New Jersey to hand Hopewell a 4-3 setback.

“It’s just a lack of execution on our part,” Bulldogs senior Joe Gambino said. “It’s more of a mental thing for us to get through because it’s little things we’re not doing which are adding up.”

Against Pennsbury, the Bulldogs (9-6) seemed to be doing everything right to make sure they did not have a repeat of Friday’s disappointment.

When the Falcons (7-5) scored two runs with two outs in the top of the first inning on pitcher Jake Goldberg’s single, Hopewell Valley did the same in the bottom of the frame when Gambino came through with his own two-out, two-run single to plate Mike Gies, who had reached on a fielder’s choice, and Brodie Catherina, who had doubled.

While Bulldogs junior right-hander Ian Livernoche retired 12 of the next 13 Pennsbury batters he faced after Goldberg’s single, the home team gained the confidence it needed and finally went on top when pinch hitter Ben Ngu plated Harry Giordano with a fielder’s choice in the fourth.

But when Pennsbury reliever Joe Sabatino escaped a jam in the fifth without giving up a run, it was the beginning of Hopewell’s struggles. Catherina led off that inning with an infield hit, then Scotty Bradley doubled. The Falcons elected to intentionally walk Gambino, then enticed Giordano to ground into a double play which cut down another run at the plate. After Brennan Lytle was also intentionally walked, Falcons first baseman Mike Habermehl made a nice diving stab on a ground ball by pinch hitter Mike O’Donnell to deny the rally.

When Pennsbury sophomore Brody McFadden took over on the hill in the sixth, he became another problem for the Bulldogs. As they had done two innings earlier, the Falcons came up with a big double play after an intentional walk to kill a rally in the seventh.

“I’d only thrown about four or five innings this year, but I was confident when I came into the game,” said McFadden, who earned his first win by retiring 8 of the 10 batters he faced. “I felt we could pull through. That first inning I came in (the sixth) I had some nerves. But I trusted the guys behind me and we got the job done.”

Pennsbury tied the game in the top of the sixth when Brandon Garrett tripled with one out, then scored on Habermehl’s two-out single.

Justin Jacko beat out an infield single with one out in the eighth off Livernoche before Garrett greeted reliever Ryan Fanning with a bloop single down the right-field line. McFadden reached on an error, and Habermehl walked with the bases loaded to push across Jacko with the decisive run.

“I’ve thrown the ball better, but eventually I settled in today,” said Livernoche, who gave Hopewell Valley 7 1/3 solid innings. “Someone’s got to step up for us. We’ve got to come out next week and score more runs.”